Fiberizing nozzle



Aprl 24, 1956 M. J. AUER FIBERIZING NOZZLE 2 Sheets-Shee Filed Jan. 27, 1955 INVENTOR.

MICHAEL J. AUER ATTORNE Y April 24, 1956 M. J. AUER FIBERIZING NOZZLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 27, 1955 INVENTOR.

MICHAEL J. AUER ATTORNEY United States Parent O 2,743,13s FIBERIZING OZZLE Michael J. Auer, Niagara' Falls, N. Ya, assig'u'o' to' Th'e Carborudum' Company, Niagara Fall's, N. Y., a co'- poraton of Delaware Application January 27, 1955', Serial' No: 484380 Claims. c. 299 107 This invention relates to 'apparatus for the mahufactre of t'organic fibrous material. More particularly this inventin'pertains to a' new noz'zle' for use' iii the''anufacthr of blown inorganc fibrous material.

Themanufacture of norg a'nic fihrous' material" ordinarily comprises releasing a' stream of molten in rgaic material and subjecting the released stream tofiberifig means. The fiberizing means maybe rtatiridsks'; with the released moltenstream mpi'ngi'ng upon-the' rot'ting discs and' being fiberized ther'eby. Fib'e r'm'ade'i this way is known as spun fiber. r Alteri''atively, the fib'e'fiz''g' means maybe a high veloct'y` blast of a' g'as s``'c'h` as`st`m er' air, drected against the falling nolten stream', n ereby fiber'izing it, iii which case the thu`s1y` produced fib r' is' known as blown` fiber. The p're'sent invention' pertai''s* to' the use of the latter means for fihrizing" the' molte stream, and in particular rjelates 'to' anovel ndle' fbi-"feleasing the high' veloc'ity blas't of j gas; I

Heretofore', in the manufactur of' hlw indi-genie fiber', the'released stream of mete'n' ofg'ic' ma eri'a' was'r'el'eased so as to fall in' front of ariti "ut dfcbfactj' with the nozze' that is r'elea'sir'g" the highvelci'ty 'tjo'f gas. The gas blast im inge'd upon theyrticallyfallig stream of molten' 'nerganie material crngin he direc tio'n o'f movement of the' moltentnat a'l to horizontal, breaking up thestrea'm into nner tis" rh'ol't 'gltj'le and attenuating the individual gl'bles t fon-fi fiber. The blast of gas' was therefore requir'do perform t'lr' functions, namely, change the directi' of' rhotionldf the molteh inorganic material from vertical to hortal, break up the stream of moten iiorganic rite'fial'it iii(- dividual globules', and attenuate' the globls 'iit' fihfsI It is an object of the present invention toprovid a blast nozzle for use in the manufactire of blown fiber, which nozle permits the utilizationof asubstan'tially greater percentage of the energy of the gas' mest in tfenting molten inorganic materialto form fibers I For a better Understanding of the present invention reference is made to the drawings, in which;` ,i

Figure 1- is an expandedrperspectivevew showing the various parts of the nozzle of Figure ZdSSemBIed; V

Figure 2' is a plan View of the preferrecl blastnozzle of the present invention;

Figure3 is a sectional longitudinal elevation taken"along` line 3-3 of Figure 2; I i

Figure 4 is a sectonal transverse elevation taken along l'ne 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure" 5' is a sectonal `trarsverse`el`evt -tion tk'n along line 5-5 of Figure 2 A Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 4, but of a modified form' of the hlast nozzle of the present invention; i

Figure 7 is a view' similar to Figu'i'e 41 but er another modified form of the blast nozzle of the present invention;

Fgure 8 is a View similar to Figure 5, but of still another modified form of the blast nozzle of the present invention; and

Fgure 9 is a schematic view showing the use of the h'l''st n'ozzte' of the present invention in the forming of inerganic fihrous material.

I acrde with the'preferred form of the present inyehtio; the'b'last no'zz'le comprises a hollow open-endet! oyl ihdrial c'dtit'lfl', one end' of which may be th-readed ff confiec't'oii' to the desired high pressure gas line.- The other end of the conduit 10, the blast end, is sl'oped` forwardly in a' downward direction so that it lies' in a plane that is` at 'anenge of 20"` to 70", preferably 45', with the ax'is" o'f the cylin'd'er; i Within' the conduit 10 thereis a core II positioned adja'c`t`the`to`p` of the conduit and held' in position against the top inside wall of the conduit 10 by means of bolts 12". The' o'ut'er face (or front face, considerng the blast end o`f`the c'o'hduitlas the' front) of the 'core 11 is also slped f'wrdl'y in a downward' direction so as to lie substant'i`all y in the'plane of 'theblasfend of the conduit 1 0. The' vertical 'cross sectional area of the core 1'1 is less' than thevertic'al cross sectional area of the inside of the con d `u'it; th'erehy providing ari exhaust port or nozzl e 13 of c'-'esce`'t"shaped cross-section.

The inner or back end or face of the core, that s",- the end of the core within" the condhit'and removed from th'e' blas't'erd of the conduit, pre'ferab ly is -tapered noma: point adjacent th'e top of the cend'it fbr'wardty in a downwa'rd' direction toward the blastend of the' condiiit at' an' a'gl' 01315: to 45`' with the'axis of the cylinder, the an'gle' of fperofthe innerfac of the cor'e' Being' in the same quadrant as the plane of the outer face of the core'. How ever; if"de's i`rd',`th'e inher' face of the core can' beltapered or''bpfednother d''re'c'tier's', such asperpe'ndielar tofthe iti's of t e c`yl`'1'd`e`r". 'The inerfaceof the core eaite appnesrrace, as in Figurs 3' ancf 5, or, if desired as shw i Figure 8, theiner end-of the core can beconi t er ingtda pint'adjcent the' top'of the cend'itso* thaftlie 'll length of the' conical end section Ilc is to'uch Betwefi th two e`n'd faces' the core preferabl'is of fiifor cross-"section of'more or less" the same shap'e' as the'crss-sectiofi of th cnduit. For example; as' shown in Fi^gfire11 4', both th'e conduit and the extreme y hej rd' iii c'r' s's seetion, withth dameterofthe cefeBe'i'n' 'ev'vhtlss tha' the inner diameter of'the; conduit'. Alteriativlyg as shown in' Figure 6,' the cond'uifn-y Be' rhcf ir'i erbssscti and the' cr na bea moeder'- cl. T'h zl'' sh'owrinFi'gure 6; hs the advantage ef" having an exhau't p'o'rt or noz'zle 13a of inreased c'i-;oss stifjl area'. As shown in Figu're 7,-the core cii be tf'n sections, elements 1113" and 1'8; This emen; leffostrutiortgives an exhaust gap of unifrm rdfl a ru'nd the" crscent. It desred', the conduit aiae'ere meg/;be 'of oth'er shapes such as elliptical, square,` oi" even triang'ular shape solong as the exhaust'port is more or less of crescent shaped cross-section and with no opening forexhaust of gas at the top of the conduit. Tha term erescetshapedf as" used in the present specificat ion and clairns to; d'efine the' cross-sectional shape of the exhaustnozzle, is intended to include not only a true ores; cent shapeg suchas the cross-section of the exhaust nozzle, ofi-Figure 4, but also modified crescent, U or V shapes suchasthose described' above 'andth'ose shownin Figures` &and 'Tr *Furtherm0re ,'--it- 'snotessential that the ex-= haust end of the conduit and core be a plane surface. some nstanees it is desira-ble' to have the front of ?the conduit and-"core cived' either concavely or coively,-"or e'verr'have a core of stepped front surface,` so' long as'it' slopes forwardly in a downward direction.

Referring now to Figure 9, in operation the nozzle of the present invention usually is posifioned so that its axis is more or less in a horizontal direction. Stream 15 of molten inorganic material is released so as to fall vertically and impinge upon the tapered front face of the core 11. Upon striking the core 11, the stream of molten inorganic material is dispersed into globules which leave the point of contact with the core 11 in a more or less horizontal direction within the crescent shaped blast of high velocity gas coming out of the blast nozzle 17. Upon coming in contact with the gaseous blast, the molten globules are attenuated, each forming an individual fiber, the overall result being the production of a mass of inorganic fibrous material 16.

Since, upon striking the front face of the nozzle core, the stream of molten inorganic material is dispersed into many small globules that are moving in a substantially horizontal direction, no snbstantial percentage of the energy of the high velocity blast of gas is used to break up the stream and change its direction of movement. Consequently more of this energy is available for attenuating the globules into fibers. Because the use of the apparatus of the present invention permits the utilization of higher percentages of the energy of the gas blast for forming fibers, usually substantially higher fiber yields are obtained when using this apparatus than are obtained when using the prio' art vertically faced nozzle that does not come in actual contact with the falling stream of molten inorganic material.

Use of the nozzle of the present invention has still a further advantage in that the angle of divergence of the fiberized material, as indicated by the numeral 19 'and arrows in Figure 9, is much smaller when using this nozzle than when using a prior art straight-faced nozzle. Consequently, collection of the fiberized material is greatly faclitated.

In Summary, the essential characteristics of the nozzle of the present invention are that the core and the conduit form a generally U-shaped exhaust port and that the front face of the core be tapered downwardly in a forward di recton (forward being the direction of movement of the gas blast) thereby providing a sloped surface on which the falling stream of inorganic material can impinge so as to be broken up and have its direction of motion changed from vertical to substantially horizontal.

The conduit may be made of any gas-impervious material that can withstand the temperature of the gas passing therethrough. Preferably the conduit is ordinary cast iron pipe. The core 11 usually is made of a somewhat more refractory material, in view of the fact that temperatures up to 2000 C. may be encountered in the manufacture of inorganic fibrous material. In the prefer'ed form of the present invention the core is machined from ordinary electrode graphite.

The size of the conduit and core of the nozzle are determined primarily by the Volume of the released stream of molten inorganic material. For example, the inner diameter of the conduit 10 can range from a fracton of an inch for fiberizing small streams of molten inorganic material up to several inches for fiberizing relatively large Volume streams. By way of example, a nozzle comprising a 1 /2 inch I. D. iron pipe conduit with a 45 slope to the exhaust end and having a 1% inch graphite core therein shaped in accordance with Figures 1-5, Operating on 100 p. s. i. steam was found to fiberize about 900 pounds per hour of molten inorganc material having a composition of substantially 50% alumina and 50% silica. In contrast, a straight faced crescent shaped nozzle of the same cross-section using 100 p. s. i. steam was found to fiberize only about 800 pounds per hour of the same composition.

While the blast nozzle of the present invention is described prmarly in connection with its use in the manufacture of inorganic fibrous material it is to be pointed out that such a nozzle is suitable for use in the manufacture of other blown inorganic materials. For ex ample, it may be used as the blast nozzle for converting a falling stream of molten nullite into mullte bubbles. Therefore the present invention is not intended to be limited to the use of this blast nozzle in the manufacture of inorganic fibrous material.

Having described the invention it is intended to claim:

1. A blast nozzle comprising an open-ended conduit through which the blast gas passes, the blast end of which conduit slopes forwardly in a downward direction at an angle of 20 to 70 with the aXis of the conduit, and a core positioned within and adjacent the top of said conduit, the outer face of said core lying substantially in the plane of the blast end of said conduit, the cross-sectional area of the core being less than the cross-sectional area of the inside of said conduit thereby providing an exhaust port of generally crescent cross-section.

2. A blast nozzle comprising an open-ended conduit through which the blast gas passes, the blast end of which conduit slopes forwardly in a downward direction at an angle of 45 with the axis of the conduit, and a core positioned within and adjacent the top of said conduit, the outer face of said core lying substantially in the plane of the blast end of said conduit, the cross-sectional area of the core being less than the cross-sectional area of the inside of said conduit thereby providing an exhaust port of generally crescent cross-section.

3. A blast nozzle comprising an open-ended conduit through which the blast gas passes, the blast end of which conduit slopes forwardly in a downward direction at an angle of 20 to 70 with the axis of the conduit, and a y core positioned within and adjacent the top of said conduit, the outer end of said core lying substantially in the plane of the blast end of said conduit, and the inner face of said core being tapered from a point adjacent the top of said conduit forwardly in a downward direction at an angle of 15 to 45 with the aXis of the conduit, the crosssectional area of the core being less than the cross-sectional area of the inside of the conduit thereby providing an exhaust port of generally crescent crosssection.

4. A blast nozzle comprising an open-ended cylindrical conduit through which the blast gas passes, the blast end of which conduit slopes forwardly in a downward direction at an angle of 20 to 70 with the' axis of the conduit, and a core positioned within and adjacent the top of said conduit, the outer face of said core lying substantially in the plane of the blast end of said conduit, the cross-sectional area of the core being less than the cross-sectional area of the inside of said conduit thereby providing an exhaust port of generally crescent cross-section.

5. A blast nozzle comprising an open-ended cylindrical conduit through which the blast gas passes, the blast end of which conduit slopes forwardly in a downward direction at an angle of 20 to 70 with the axis of the conduit, and a core positioned within and adjacent the top of said conduit, the outer face of said core lying subsantially in the plane of the blast end of said conduit, and the inner end of said core being tapered from a point adjacent the top of said conduit forwardly in a downward direction at an angle of 15 to 45 with the axis of the conduit, the cross-sectional area of the core being less than the crosssectional area of the inside of the conduit thereby providing an cxhaust port of generally crescent cross-section.

Bryce June 5, 1894 Hueni Jan. 5, 1904 

1. A BLAST NOZZLE COMPRISING AN OPEN-ENDED CONDUIT THROUGH WHICH THE BLAST GAS PASSES, THE BLAST END OF WHICH CONDUIT SLOPES FORWARDLY IN A DOWNWARD DIRECTION AT AN ANGLE OF 20* TO 70* WITH THE AXIS OF THE CONDUIT, AND A CORE POSITIONED WITHIN AND ADJACENT THE TOP OF SAID CONDUIT, THE OUTER FACE OF SAID CORE LYING SUBSTANTIALLY IN THE PLANE OF THE BLAST END OF SAID CONDUIT, THE CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF THE CORE BEING LESS THAN THE CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF THE INSIDE OF SAID CONDUIT THEREBY PROVIDING AN EXHAUST PORT OF GENERALLY CRESCENT CROSS-SECTION. 